Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Wii As I See It

We have a rather ambitious school schedule for the kids this year in which all of them will be accomplishing two years worth of math during this one year. This decision was made to ensure there is room for calculus in their senior year, which I believe to be a valuable tool for ordered thinking.

An aside here, but I really think that the intrinsic value of math is not being able to figure multiple equations for the unknown, but rather to learn how to think systematically and with an ordered purpose. A daunting day of too much to do becomes much more manageable when I allow the math portion of my brain to take over and begin to mass tasks, times, and deadlines into groups which are similar and maximize my energy and abilities. This aspect of a mother's life is absolutely grounded in math, not flowing literature which rambles and meanders to whatever end.

So, back to the Wii. We received our Wii from a much beloved Aunt and Uncle who were very disappointed that our family would not be able to attend the family reunion due to my pregnancy with Abigail. (And as she wound up in the NICU and then transferred to St. Christopher's in Philadelphia, I have never regretted our decision to heed our OB's advice.) Scott and I were hesitantly excited. Excited because it was a Wii and it sounded like so much fun. Hesitant because while we did have a GameCube, we did not leave it set up but rather stored in the game closet just like any other board game. This out of sight, out of addicted-little-boy-trouble solution meant that while we could play games, we weren't treated to the daily whines of "Can I, Can I, Can I." The Wii isn't exactly the type of system to be set-up and then taken down as you feel like it.

Fast forward over three years later and I have to admit that I really do love having a Wii. It is fun, we play together as we have mostly 4 player games, and we really do enjoy the Wii Fit and Zumba games for daily exercise.

But my favorite part of the Wii has nothing to do with any of these reasons.

Each morning, my younger four will follow me around the house, school books clutched in hands, begging for me to do their lessons. My older three quickly came up with solutions on their own to ensure that they would have their primary school work as well as the daily family'o'10 chores accomplished before lunch.

I would love to say this burning desire for their education to be mastered is because our children simply adore learning and they just can't get enough of reading, writing, and arithmetic. I would be over the moon with happiness if I could report that household chores are completed so quickly because our children have already learned the value of a clean and tidy home. Alas, the actual answer is much more American. The kids who finish all their school work for the day before 3:00 in the afternoon earn 30 minutes of Wii time.

Of course, I have come off as the hero in this arrangement. I am the cool mom who allows them to play on the Wii a little bit every single day. I am the patient mom who understands their needs to just have some play time.

Little do they know that I am the mom who completely exploits their love of Wii to my own advantages.

Insert evil mother laugh here.



1 comment:

Kathryne (Reeves) Lee said...

I love this. We do the same thing at our house. It's amazing what a little incentive will do.=)